After helping to commercialise Intellectual Property (IP) owned by UK Universities for several years, ConnauTech has now used some established techniques for the University of Otago in New Zealand. A project was undertaken to evaluate the market potential for an innovative, absolute gravimeter which is an instrument that measures gravity for a range of applications in geoscience and prospecting. It is anticipated that the final device will offer significant advantage over commercially-available, absolute gravimeters including:

Lower cost

Very high measurement precision

Highly portable (small size and weight)

Rapid measurement

Easy to use for any operator

The project was conducted by carrying out primary and secondary market research and involved key personnel from 18 organisations representing target sectors including Geophysics; Academia; Oil & Gas; Water; Minerals; Defence and Metrology.

Projected global sales for the new gravimeter were estimated to be very significant (whether the instrument is sold or leased) across the target sector range if most or all of the potential advantages are realised. Furthermore, specific requirements which the instrument should meet were identified by the market personnel. Some development collaborators and potential technology licensees were also identified.